Tag Archives: letter from the leader

A very brief note this week, devoted to Nelson Mandela. Nick highlights his statement and points us towards the debate that will take place in the House of Commons tomorrow. We also discover that Paddy spends time on his phone at the dinner table. He wouldn’t get away with that in LDV Towers.

A very sad week. I never met Nelson Mandela but, like many of you, I’ve also never known the world without him in it. This weekend it feels like an emptier place.

“Liberal Democrats will allow parents to share the allocation of maternity and paternity leave between them in whatever way suits them best.” That’s what the party’s 2010 manifesto said would happen – and this week it actually did happen. Here’s what Nick Clegg had to say about the party’s policy success…

A short one this week: just to say a huge well done to all Liberal Democrats. We’ve finally landed our flagship policy on shared parental leave.

Tory planning minister Nick Coles’ admission this week that the Conservative brand is still tainted provides the cue for Nick Clegg to stake the liberal flag squarely in the centre ground once again. The Tories see us too statist, he says, while Labour sees us as too hard – Nick reckons this confirms the Lib Dems are exactly where we should be. And he defines his version of what liberalism is: “liberalism is about enabling everyone to get on in life”. Read his letter in full, below…

This week there’s been a lot of chat in the Westminster village about an issue close to our party’s heart: liberalism.

Specifically, on whether or not the Conservative party can be liberal. Sparked, on this occasion, by a Tory Minister and arch-moderniser, Nick Boles, conceding that their detoxification project has failed.

It would have been very surprising if Nick’s weekly letter hadn’t been on the subjects which have dominated the headlines this week – free schools and energy bills. Although, to be honest, I think it’s the energy bills that most voters are most concerned about and possibly merited a larger proportion of the Letter than they get. Nick makes the case for retaining the green charges which pay for the warm homes discount and home insulation programmes. Ed Davey wrote more about what he’s doing to keep down energy bills on this site last week. The thing is, it’s …

This week’s Letter from the Leader tells us something that members and supporters really should know already – that Liberal Democrats are responsible for raising the tax threshold, that the Tories in general and David Cameron in particular, trashed it publicly at the time. But now that the idea has turned out to be popular, the Tories are claiming it as their own. Keep this one in your bookmarks to show off who’s really responsible for this significant achievement.

This week the Lib Dems got #WhyIamIn trending on Twitter to launch the party’s campaign to show the positive benefits of British membership of the European Union. Nick Clegg takes up the cause in his weekly letter, making the point you’ll hear a lot between now and next May’s Euro elections: “Only the Liberal Democrats are, unambiguously, the party of ‘In’.” As I pointed out this week, it’s not just a cause the vast majority of the party passionately believes in — it’s also smart electoral politics. Here’s Nick’s letter in full…

This week Nick reflects on two speeches in two weeks: the first to the party’s conference in Glasgow, the second to the UN general assembly. In one he announced free school lunches for the youngest children in English schools; in the other he announced an extra £100m of aid to help Syrian refugees. As Nick says, “We all hate the idea of a child going hungry. Be they a refugee on the borders of Syria, or the neglected child of a troubled family in an inner city: the world’s children deserve our protection.” You can read the letter in full, below…

Last week, I was at our party conference in Glasgow. This week I’m writing to you on a flight back from the UN in New York, where I spoke at the General Assembly and discussed Syria, Iran UK and arms control.

Last week, Syria dominated. This week Nick Clegg uses his Leader’s letter to promote a just-announced initiative – 15 hours’ free nursery care to children from the poorest families – and defend another two currently under attack: the Transparency and Lobbying bill and HS2. On lobbying, he dismisses as ‘nonsense’ the idea the Government was ever wanting to gag charities and says the Coalition will accept amendments that make this crystal clear. While on HS2 he argues it is vital to increase capacity, and adds it’s just one of many improvements planned to the railways.

A few weeks ago I asked you to let me know what you wanted me to cover in this letter and one message came back more clearly than any other: anything and everything! The winning choice, by far, was “something else” – with suggestions from bees to tax avoidance.

Unsurprisngly, this week, Nick’s letter is about Syria. He highlighted his unprecedented Q and A session with members (embedded below if you missed it) and talked about the humanitarian aid that the UK is piling in to help the people of Syria and surrounding nations.

This was a week in which we all grappled with a complex set of questions about Britain’s role in the world: our views on the scope of international law; on the place for humanitarian intervention; and on how to respond to war crimes committed on foreign soil.

My own views are well known: that there is a humanitarian case for the UK to be prepared to participate in multi-lateral, legal, targeted military action in Syria, aimed at deterring the use of chemical weapons. But there are no easy answers in this debate and I entirely understand and respect the misgivings that have led some colleagues and party members to oppose such action.

Last night, Parliament made its opposition to military action clear and of course, the Government will abide by that decision.

I held an online Q&A with members earlier today. If you weren’t able to join in, you can see it here.

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. More than 600 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

50% of Lib Dem members say Leaders’ Letter is effective — but with concerns about its tone

It’s nine months since Nick Clegg began sending a weekly email to party members, or indeed anyone who signs up at www.libdememails.co.uk/nick. Do you read them — and, if yes, what do you make of them?

‘Nick Clegg effect helps LBC to record 1m listeners’ noted The Guardian last week — yes, the Lib Dem leader’s risky decision last January to host a weekly radio phone-in has proved a hit with the public. (“Imagine if we could do it with a politician who was popular,” side-swiped Nick’s co-host Nick Ferrari.) In this week’s letter Nick offers a behind-the-scenes video glimpse of the show…

I hope you’re having an enjoyable summer so far and getting some time to relax, enjoy the sunshine and enjoy time with family and friends.

This week I was back on LBC for my regular radio phone in show ‘Call Clegg’. I really enjoy doing it, and like the many town hall meetings I also do, it’s a great way to speak directly to the public.

This week, Nick’s focus is on the Liberal Democrats’ Million Jobs campaign. He talks about his experience shadowing an apprentice in a pharmacy in his Sheffield constituency. We’re glad he reassured us that his work was carefully double and triple checked. Find out what other Liberal Democrat MPs are up to in their areas…

This summer, Liberal Democrat MPs and Peers are going back to the shop floor and finding out what it is like to be an apprentice.

Trident, Britain’s nuclear weapons system, divides opinion. That was apparent this week when the Government published the results of a two-year, detailed study of the alternatives.

Some people say Britain should surrender our nuclear weapons tomorrow, regardless of what threats we face. While others seem to believe it’s unpatriotic to even consider anything other than the full-scale Trident system we built for the Cold War threats of yesterday.

Personally, I think the world has changed. I am not, and never have been, a believer in unilateral disarmament. But I

The Lib Dem leadership — as I noted here yesterday — is determined to get on the front foot on the economy. This autumn will see a leadership-proposed motion backing further capital investment (“within the fiscal envelope”) while retaining the commitment to deficit reduction. Nick’s letter this week is coordinated with that message, and in particular the importance for growth throughout the regions of the UK. Here’s what he has to say…

On Thursday I visited the Toyota and Rolls Royce factories in Derbyshire to announce the

This week was the week of the Comprehensive Spending Review. Perhaps more importantly for the Coalition’s self-confidence was the erasure from the economic records of the double-dip recession. Nick’s letter this week is bullish about the Lib Dems’ record on the economy: “Creating jobs. Stopping the build up of Labour’s unsustainable debts. Getting the economy back on track”. It is also savage of Labour’s record, not just in government but their last three years in opposition, too: “They don’t have a credible economic plan and it’s no wonder people don’t trust them with their money.”

Money, jobs and investment dominated the agenda this week. On Wednesday, the chancellor set out details of the Spending Round: the last set of savings we will have to announce in this Parliament. On Thursday, Danny Alexander followed up by announcing massive new investment in our roads, rail, housing and infrastructure.

This week saw the Lib Dems launch a major new campaign: A Million Jobs for a Stronger Economy. As a party we have a habit of launching major campaigns and then letting them peter out. Remember the ‘John Lewis economy’ for instance? Or that we were the ‘one nation party’ before Ed Miliband? If not, you won’t be alone. So it’s encouraging that the party’s Million Jobs campaign is scheduled to run for a year — the minimum necessary for it to get any traction — and …

Nick Clegg has made social mobility — the aim that everyone should be able to make of their lives what they want regardless of where they come from — his driving mission as Deputy Prime Minister. It’s a big aim and one he knows will be difficult to achieve. His latest attempt to progress it is the Opening Doors Campaign, asking all businesses to sign up to ensure they ‘recruit fairly and openly, looking at people’s talent not their background’. In this week’s letter he explains why he thinks this is so important…

This week, Nick emphasises that despite all the fuss in the media, the Government is getting its head down and delivering good things. He points out that although things like Europe and equal marriage dominate the newspapers, they take up a relatively small part of parliamentary time. He also says that he thinks coalitions will become more frequent as people’s dissatisfaction with “the old two party politics deepens.” Over to Nick

No prizes for guessing which subject Nick Clegg tackles in his latest weekly letter to supporters: Europe. He rattles through the three positions: ‘calamitous outers’, ‘inconsequential renegotiators’ and ‘achievable reformers’. No prizes for guessing which he identifies with the Lib Dems. Over to Nick…

I’m writing this week’s Letter to you from Kirkwall in Orkney. Alistair Carmichael and Jim Wallace have been trying to persuade me to make the trip for a while and I’ve finally made it in order to join the celebrations of the centenary of Jo Grimond’s birth.

The big debate this week in British politics, which featured strongly in PMQs – where I was standing in for the PM (you can watch it here) – has obviously been about our future role in Europe. An issue on which Jo Grimond was a pioneer and leader.

Nick Clegg isn’t one for the pomp and pageant of parliament (he’s rather keen to let you know). He’s also keen to let you know that this week’s Queen’s Speech was “designed to build a stronger economy and a fairer society in Britain, enabling everyone to get on in life” (to quote Her Majesty). Over to Nick…

Fair pensions. Decent care in your old age. A tax cut for small businesses taking on staff. A major new high speed railway. Energy investment to keep lights on and bills affordable. Shared parental leave. Rehabilitation of prisoners to set them back on the straight and narrow.

Just a few highlights from the Government’s plans for legislation this year, outlined this Wednesday in the Queen’s Speech, designed to build a stronger economy and a fairer society in Britain, enabling everyone to get on in life.

Nick Clegg’s message this week is pretty chipper, name-checking some of the 350 Lib Dems (re-)elected to serve their communities this week, many of them in battleground areas. “A year or two ago even if we worked hard we didn’t win: now our message is getting a hearing again. We are back in the saddle.” His only negative words are reserved for Ukip, who he says offer a “quick fix” which would backfire: “if UKIP ever got to deliver their policies, unemployment would soar, the rich would get a massive tax cut, and we’d face swingeing cuts to our schools and hospitals”. However, their success makes the Lib Dem presence in the Coalition even more necessary, argues Nick: “it is more important than ever that we, Liberal Democrats, anchor the Government in the centre ground.” Read the full message below…

A massive thank you to everyone who worked hard in this year’s local elections. It’s been another tough year in our journey from a party of protest to a party of Government, but where it matters most, in our Parliamentary seats, we’ve stayed strong and even made gains, beating the Conservatives by 5% of the vote.

‘Only Liberal Democrats fight for a stronger economy and a fairer society, enabling everyone to get on in life.’ You might have heard that one before. You’ll hear it again in Nick’s message below. And in every speech between now and the next general election. Lib Dem supporters are bound to get sick of hearing it; let’s hope so, because then there’s just a chance it’ll have been heard even once by most voters.

It’s been a good week for Nick, as his ‘5 things’ message emphasises: the ‘snoopers charter’ has been torpedoed; the economy is growing again; crime is falling; income tax for the low-paid is being cut again; and the Green Investment Bank has issued its first guarantee. Those aren’t bad headlines ahead of this Thursday’s local elections in England. Read all about them below…

Five good reasons to get out and campaign for the Liberal Democrats this weekend, and support us in Thursday’s local elections.

With local elections taking place across much of England (and, lets not forget, the Isle of Angelsey in Wales) on Thursday 2nd May, Nick Clegg’s letter this week focuses on the drive to get out the Lib Dem vote…

With less than two weeks to go until this year’s local elections, the campaigning has really stepped up a notch. I’ll be spending the next week criss-crossing the country, knocking on doors, delivering leaflets and hearing about local Lib Dem success stories from jobs we’ve created to libraries we’re

With local elections taking place across much of England (and, lets not forget, the Isle of Angelsey in Wales) on Thursday 2nd May, Nick Clegg’s letter this week focuses on the drive to get out the Lib Dem vote…

The buzz at party headquarters this Thursday night was great. Danny Alexander and I were there along with well over 50 others for an action evening on the phones, campaigning for this year’s local elections on 2 May. The building was full of noise, people coming and going, and

Nick Clegg’s latest letter looks ahead to the local elections in England, with a particular focus on the Lib Dems’ successful delivery of £600 in tax-cuts for the low-paid compared to Labour’s time in power. Here are three quick, clickable ways of promoting this achievement:

Nick Clegg’s latest letter to supporters wishes us all the very best for a relaxing Easter holiday. He’s off on a family break visiting his parents — or “holidaying at a millionaires’ ­playground” if you prefer the Mirror‘s styling. My Co-Editor Caron Lindsay has written a reply highlighting the many and various ways Lib Dem members will be spending the break: campaigning. However you spend it — we at LibDemVoice wish you all the best.

Nick Clegg’s latest letter to supporters focuses on this week’s Budget taking us behind-the-scenes of how it was developed, and highlighting the Lib Dem successes alongside the challenges still facing the UK.

Agreeing the Budget is a long and painstaking process.

It started at the beginning of the year, with a presentation by the Chancellor to the Quad (that’s me, him, the PM and Danny Alexander). The information is confidential enough that everyone in the room – even the PM – has to give back the print outs at

First, as Paul Walter and Jonathan Calder have already picked up: the absence of any mention of last weekend’s debate on ‘secret courts’. I understood why it wasn’t mentioned in his leader’s speech last weekend: he wanted to keep the media’s attention focused on the party’s core message. But if we go back to the original intention of the Letter from the Leader, it was – as Nick himself wrote in the first one – “to give you a bit more of an insight into what’s going on behind those Whitehall doors and how we, as Lib Dems, are dealing with the issues and challenges that come up.” Hands up all those party members who think Nick’s lived up to that pledge on secret courts?

The second odd thing is the repeated request to send us to a paywalled website to find out more about Nick’s plans for Leveson: that’s right, Lib Dem supporters are invited to hand over money to Rupert Murdoch to get the party leader’s views on how the Lib Dems intend to crack down on the abuses perpetrated by Rupert Murdoch’s company. Now, I’ve already made clear my disagreement with Nick on this issue. But I’ve no doubt he’s speaking for the majority of party members in backing a Royal Charter to implement the Leveson Report. Yet instead of directing them to a Lib Dem website, or capturing emails via a Lib Dem petition website, the Leader’s Letter invites supporters to bump their head against a paywall and make their views known through a third-party website. Neither are especially smart.

Nick Clegg keeps it brief in his weekly email despatch to members and supporters (which, kudos to Lib Dem HQ, pinged into my inbox at the precise moment Nick’s conference speech finished) — building on the party’s victory at Eastleigh, he urges party members to “Tell our side of the story and keep winning.”

I’ve just had a wonderful three days with Liberal Democrat members at Conference in Brighton.

No prizes for guessing what dominates Nick’s weekly letter: the Eastleigh by-election, which he learned the Lib Dems had held with a majority of almost 1,800 when director of campaigns Hilary Stephenson texted him. ‘We didn’t win in Eastleigh “in spite” of our record. We won because of our record,’ says Nick. Significantly, though, there is also a paragraph dedicated to the party’s response to the allegations against Chris Rennard: ‘It’s clear mistakes were made in the handling of allegations and that is something we have to put right.’ Here’s his letter in full…

What a victory! After three weeks of seriously intense campaigning, we’ve done it. Mike Thornton is the new MP for Eastleigh.